December 2009
The Kata 3N1-33 Sling Backpack could be a Transformer in disguise and I would cleverly reference the most appropriate character if I knew anything about the show.
Dailymotion Lands On The iPhone
Paris-based video sharing site Dailymotion has released an iPhone app. In fact, two versions exist. A free to download version (iTunes link) that is supported by ads and a premium…
KPN Acquires Rest Of iBasis For $93.3 Million In Cash
Dutch telecom group KPN has agreed to acquire the 44% of U.S.-based operator iBasis that it doesn’t already own for $3 a share, or $93.3 million in cash. A special…
New cell phone maker NEC-Casio goes America, targets 200% international sales boost
As MobileCrunch reported back in August, three of Japan’s eight top cell phone makers, namely NEC, Casio and Hitachi are going to merge their cell phone businesses next year. Under…
Japan's Red Cross uses Augmented Reality to get geeks to donate blood (video)
This is one of the reasons why I live in Japan and nowhere else: In order to get more people to donate blood, the Japanese Red Cross Society decided to…
TC50 Star Tonchidot Releases Its Augmented Reality Sekai Camera Worldwide
The wait is finally over. Over a year after its memorable (and zany) debut at TechCrunch 50 2008, Tonchidot’s Sekai Camera iPhone application is now available worldwide. The augmented reality…
Limelight Networks Shells Out $110 Million For Ad Platform EyeWonder
Content delivery platform Limelight Networks has acquired ad platform EyeWonder for $110 million. The deal is expected to close in the first half of 2010. Seattle-based EyeWonder, which as seen…
The Anti-Ad Network Contenture Shuts Its Doors
Contenture, a startup that aimed to be the “anti-ad network,” is shutting its doors after only a few months of business. Conenture wanted to shake up the online ad market…
Mobile Roadie And Random House Partner To Launch iPhone Apps For Authors
As the way consumers read books evolves, there is an opportunity for mobile technologies to connect consumers with their favorite reads. Mobile Roadie, a startup that helps develops iPhone apps,…
GR DIGITAL III × STUSSY: Ricoh unveils limited edition point-and-shoot camera
It’s Stussy’s 30th birthday next year, and for some strange reason the fashion company collaborated with Japanese electronics maker Ricoh to celebrate the occasion in the form of a Stussy-branded…
World Map Of Social Networks Shows Rise Of Facebook
Italian writer, blogger and photographer Vincenzo Cosenza has for the second time put together a visualization that shows the most popular social networks around the world on a map, based…
Yelp Walks Away From Google Deal, And Half A Billion Dollars
Jeremy Stoppleman, the CEO of Yelp, has walked away from an all-but-signed deal to be acquired by Google for more than half a billion dollars. The deal was, as we…
After A Few Fits And Starts, Hunch Begins To Sprint In The Right Direction
Sometimes it takes a while for a site to find its legs. Hunch, which launched last March to much fanfare, is only now in the past few months capturing the…
It’s a well known fact of life that creativity flows better when the sun is down. The best essays are written the night before class, the best coding is done…
Report: Bidding War Over, O2 Rings Up Jajah For $200 Million
Last month, we wrote about the VoIP startup Jajah being the target of a bidding war. Today, it appears that war is over, with the winner being O2, and the…
http://vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=8298379&server=vimeo.com&show_title=0&show_byline=1&show_portrait=0&color=00ADEF&fullscreen=1 Since the Mamba Shift just came out this week, I haven’t had time to put it through its paces for a full review. But because Bag Week is coming…
The Difference between $1 Billion-Plus in Exits and “Success”
I had a lot of theories back in 2008 when I started researching entrepreneurship in emerging markets, and I had one big, glaring question: For all the noted VCs urging…
YC-Funded Lingt Uses Games To Turn You Into A Language Learning Addict
If there’s one thing that 2009 proved, it’s that there’s nothing like an addictive game to keep people coming back to your service for more. Over the last year, we’ve…
Are Hot U.S. Startups The New Bling For Rich Russians?
A controversial comment on Hacker News makes us wonder if hot U.S. startups are the new vanity purchase for rich Russians. We weren’t the only ones surprised earlier this year…
Ribbit Mobile Gets An iPhone App By Sticking To Voicemail
Ever since Ribbit Mobile launched, I’ve been using it to forward my calls to Skype when I am at my computer and transcribe all of my voicemails, the text of…
Guest columnist Lydia Leavitt writes about sex and, oddly enough, social media. For more information on the latest intimate technology as well as the full interview with Kim Airs, check…
Behold Kincaid’s Law. My Law.
“The amount of fun you’re having at a party is inversely proportional to the number of times you’ve tweeted about it.” Last week, I tweeted these deeply profound words to…
This dude probably had to get some work done and decided to mooch off of B&N’s free Internet. But seriously? Did he really have to do it in this fashion?…
Nomadesk, Not Just Another File Sharing Service, Launches FolderLink (Video)
The hundreds of web and desktop clients built for sharing, backup or on-the-fly synchronization of digital files that have sprung up in the past ten years have made the whole…
Beyond Realtime Search: The Dawning Of Ambient Streams
The following guest post was written by Edo Segal (@edosegal). It was 1993 and I had just decided to drop out of college. I was a graphic design major in…
Here are some stories from CrunchGear this past week. Bag Week, People! This dude made a Zelda game in C++. What did you do this year? Bad Ideas, vol. CMXVII:…
Another Reason Why I Wish All My Friends Had iPhones: Blipr
I’ll say it right off the bat: there are tons of ways people can communicate from iPhone to iPhone, not in the least by simple SMS or, you know, calling…
CrunchDeals: Buy an Olive 4 or 4 HD and get Beatles Remastered
So the guys at Olive really like you. We gave our free one away to Reader Fares but you guys can pick one up alongside a full 17-disc collection of…
NSFW: Free as in "my publisher will disown me after I pirate my book on TechCrunch"
“So that’s your advice is it? As my agent? On the week my book comes out in paperback, I should produce my own pirated version and give it away free?…
Avatar has hit telesync, but by all reports you should just pay your money
Imagine this in 3D. With like aliens popping out onto your lap. This telesync won’t be like that. Avatar is now a telesync, in English, but it seems the aliens…